Burbank Veterinary Center Burbank, California

I've been attending this veterinary center since the overall reviews were 4.5 (now 3.0, deservingly so). Cons: 1) Delayed lab test results/sitting on results for no reason, when I called Kate (front desk) she stated they haven't received my dog's lab tests. I requested the lab test results to be emailed to me when they did receive them. I finally got the results, called their lab and they confirmed that they've sent results back to the clinic after 3 days of receiving the samples. Turns out this place sat on my dog's results for 11 days. Unacceptable, specially when treatment was put on hold until we got the results. 11 whole days went by. Imagine that happened to your pet. They did this twice, before I caught them. 2) Overpriced tests and medication by 30%-40%. Greedy. Thankfully, I'm well off, but it's a damn near a rip-off. Expect to drop $1,200-$2,000 per visit. 3) They will upsell you on things you don't need. Watch out for suggested supplements and nail trims. Last straw was when I started buying meds online and they refused to approve the prescription (Appoquel) because “my dog needed new blood test”, her blood test was 5 months ago, they only wanted to charge me for the unnecessary tests since I’m not getting their 40% mark up medication through them and instead I used petcarerx.com which is hundreds of dollars cheaper. They also couldn’t see her until after thanksgiving, ahem, 2 weeks from the date. 4) Always, always keep track of your pet's medication and when it was last administered. See #3. My dog's been getting Cytopoint injections here. They started saying it was once every 6 months, then once every 6 weeks. Last time I went to the clinic in May 2021, only 3 weeks from my dog's last Cytopoint, I mentioned that the vaccine is not working as it once used to. They said it was because her next injection was past due. I went back to my records and I confirmed that it's been only merely 3 weeks. They will lie to you about these dates KEEP TRACK OF YOUR DOG’S MEDICATION SCHEDULE. 5) Kate (front desk), aggressive and a flat out liar. She gives me Carol Baskin/Jodi Arias vibes, extremely manipulative. This is not a joke or an unjustified personal attack towards her. She'll say she talked to the doctor 9/10 she didn't. She even has that "baby voice", many manipulative and dangerous people employ to seem more innocent. She was also the receptionist that kept telling me the results haven't arrived yet, when in fact they had received them. 6) They'll schedule you at 8am, but won't open until 8:05am. And you have to wait outside. Why even have an 8am open slot? Time is money, not just for them, but for us the clients too. 7) Good luck finding an appointment here. Closest you'll get is 2 weeks or longer. 8) My last con, please beware. I've noticed that they will "milk" your pet's issues. Meaning, they'll take every little shortcut to prolong treatment and make more money off of your pet's suffering. I don't know if this place went downhill due to the pandemic or an administrative changed, but it was never this bad, at least when I first got here. Pros: 1) Nicole (vet technician) she cares, good person, professional, knowledgeable. 2) Dr. Burpee, knowledgeable, smart. I appreciate how she explains everything and takes the time to go over results with me after hours. I just wish she worked somewhere else. Magnificent human being. But that's it. Don't come here, for your pet's sake. I lasted this long because of Nicole and Dr. Burpee. Then I checked back with google reviews and I couldn't agree more with the negative cons that most people are saying. There are other vet clinics that have better value, service, professionalism, quality, open slots for appointments and pricing than Burbank Veterinary Center, see Berkley Pet Hospital. If you are looking for a better place I recommend Berkley Pet Hospital with reasonable prices and a 4.6 Google review rating.

Horrible practice.... upsell upsell upsell... medication 3 x chewy price, unnecessary surgeries plus surgeries that may endanger pets life! Avoid.... horrible place

Dr B and the staff at Burbank Vet Center are outstanding. She has solved numerous problems for my dogs that other vets failed to address. I see some reviews here that mention this vet is overpriced. She is not trying to scam people, etc, just providing complete medical care which is rare.

DO NOT TAKE YOUR PET TO THIS PLACE OR YOU WILL REGRET IT!!! They are EXTREMELY EXTREMELY OVERPRICED, it doesn't matter how many times you bring your dog they will always charge you for evaluation fee,on top of that they will add EXTRA 'THINGS'' YOUR DOG DOESN'T REALLY NEED! I was taking my dog there for a while and every time I took him there for something in specific they will always add up something else..they will charge you $800 dollars for a small dog teeth extraction.. Lol the List can go on.... avoid getting taken advantage and getting scammed. :)

I am writing about an outrageous call I just had with the clinic front desk millennial. I have been going to this clinic for years with 3 of my dogs. Three months ago I had surgery, so my son took my dog in for a scheduled vet appointment to have Dr. Burpee look at a few small growths she had. I had not remembered this because the surgery medications caused me to lose my memory of many things. I had scheduled an appointment for my dog, Precious, to be seen today - but when my son reminded me he had taken her in for the same thing just 3 months ago, I called the clinic to ask if I could just speak with the vet about the last exam. I was told "That's still a consultation." To which I replied, "I'm happy to pay for another consultation just to review the last visit records, since my son was not given any report and could not remember what they told him. The secretary spoke to me as if she was admonishing a school girl. "We don't do consultations over the phone, she said in a snappy voice." I responded, "I'm not asking for a consultation over the phone, I'm asking for a review of the last visit and I am happy to PAY for Dr. Burpee's time. The fees would be no different than the fees they would have charged me had I brought the dog in to do the exact same thing. I said, I'd be happy to bring the dog in again for another exam - but I wanted to know the results of the last exam. She then said, "That's 4 months again, lots can change in that time." I said, It's actually 3.5 months ago and nothing has changed with the growths since then and I just wanted to speak to the vet about what she observed during the last exam and get her recommendation on the course of action. I REALIZE I'll have to bring the dog back for another exam, but I am not well today and I am willing to pay for a call. I asked her to ask Dr. Burpee directly. She put me on hold for all of 3 seconds and came back and said, "I talked to her and she said, no." I could not believe how this twenty something year old spoke to me. Dr. Burpee, if you are reading this - you actually called me to talk about my other dog Dexter, after the blood work you did for pre-op. He had to go to a specialist for his condition. I didn't even ask for the call, but you saw something of concern. You were prepared to make an unrequested call, at no charge, but not a paid call to discuss the last exam you did of my dog that I already paid for and was willing to pay for a consult yet again just to go through the results? The way your secretary spoke to me was completely unacceptable. I understand rules, but this was a very reasonable request and unless you are the gestapo, I don't see why I could not pay for a 10 minute call. I clearly stated I was willing to bring my dog back in, but not before knowing the results of the last exam - which I never got the benefit to hear. You are a high priced clinic, which normally comes with properly trained front desk people. I don't believe she spoke to you about this and regardless, her tone was beyond belief. I am very ill today and this call made me feel even more sick. Please call me to discuss - if you ready your own Google reviews

This place is completely overpriced and the staff are only concerned with selling you on things your dog “needs”. The receptionist claims she’s the manager and doesn’t ask the vet or nurses questions when asked, but claims she did. You pay a premium to take your dog or pet here, serious markups, like 30% on meds, labs, everything. I tried to like this place and gave them many chances, but it’s time to part ways. They are unprofessional, untrustworthy, and take advantage of their customers.

Couldn't even book an appointment...cause there "overbooked".. so if you need to see the vet asap DO NOT COME HERE! the farthest you'll get is someone answering the phone.

I like them but they will recommend completely unnecessary things to charge way more money and it’s really frustrating. I do realize they are a for profit business like all vets, but they are way more aggressive than others in the area.

Avoid this place like the plague. Will try an up-sell you on a bunch of stuff your pet doesn't need and puts declined items on your invoice leaving you open to insurance declining coverage down the track. I requested that these declined items not be included on the invoice, and they refuse to amend the document. They were totally unhelpful. Had to wait an hour past appt time to see a vet who spent more time trying to up-sell on pedicures, pointless fecal tests, rather than sticking to the issues that were at hand. Wish I'd read other reviews first about how overpriced and greedy they are.

I very highly recommend Dr. Pavelina Burpee and her staff at Burbank Animal Hospital! We came to Dr. Burpee by referral of a friend in 2016. Our dog had been injured and was treated at an animal surgical center in Glendale who did a very poor job wrapping her feet with bandages and managing her pain. Dr. Burpee re-treated her injuries with such a high level of integrity technically and emotionally. Her education and experience gives her the ability to see the big picture regarding an animals health and how it relates to other ailments and side effects of medication. Our dog thrived more under her care then any vet we previously visited. Cannot recommend her enough!

I took my dog here because she was in pain (not from a trauma, just getting older) and left with no answers and a $500+ bill. The wait to be seen was long. The wait after being seen to pay the bill was even longer. The nurses were rude and the vet was only with us for a few minutes. After initially refusing unnecessary tests the nurse made us feel so terrible we eventually gave in. The only thing that came back from my dogs bloodwork was that she was (not shockingly) slightly dehydrated “probably from being here for so long.” Because they couldn’t figure out what was wrong they insisted on a medication that cost half the bill and yet was so tiny only had 2 doses worth of medication in it.

Absolutely love Dr. Burpee and the staff! They have helped my dogs so many times and Dr. burpee is on top of everything. Highly recommend!

Shee and her staff are the best.... Will not go anywhere else!

My niece brings her shiatsu to this place and I don't know why! She brought her dog in for a simple teeth cleaning and the dog left with 9 TEETH PULLED WITHOUT EVEN CONSENTING WITH HER FIRST!! On top of that she was charged $2,000.00 yes $2,000.00!!!! The vets at this place are thieves and took advantage of my niece. They pulled 9 teeth from her dog without my nieces consent and stuck her with an outrageous bill. I don't know how they sleep at night. Her poor dog is suffering now too. This place has always been overpriced. I would rather die than bring my dog to this vet. If I could give no stars that would be more deserving. This place only cares about the money not the animals.

Dr. Burpee is AMAZING. We switched to Dr. B through the referral of a friend. Our previous vet had ZERO experience with pregnant dogs/litters. We had adopted our dog pregnant. We thought she had ticks, and our old vet told us we couldn't use any prevention on her because of her pregnancy. They offered us no solution to getting rid of them before the puppies came. When the puppies came, one of them was involved in an accident with mom, and instead of going to my old vet I went to Dr. B. She noticed something on the puppy, and took a look at it under the microscope. Guess what? THE DOGS HAD LICE! Our old vet didn't even bother to properly diagnose the problem! Dr. B had us use Frontline Plus on the mom (Which is OKAY for pregnant/nursing dogs. If we had just gone to Dr. B in the first place, we would've solved this problem before the puppies came. Now we were battling how to get rid of lice on 2 week old puppies!) Dr. B helped us find a solution to all of our problems regarding the puppies and mom. She is a saint. She also literally saved the lives of my litter. When my puppies fell sick, one of them suddenly passed away (maybe from choking on vomit, maybe from fluids in the lungs, we don't know). That night we hurried them off to ASG - where the emergency vet told us that if we didn't hospitalize our puppies, they would all die because she claimed they had distemper. The vet said we couldn't put them all on antibiotics, and we couldn't administer an IV at home. We called Dr. B's office right when they opened the next day, and they squeezed our puppies in first thing in the morning. Her staff taught me how to IV them, and she put them on antibiotics. Within a couple of days, all of their fevers were gone and they were eating and playing again. Dr. B had us do a test on two of them to be sure it wasn't distemper or parvo (both tested negative). Instead of just giving up on them like the emergency vet, she worked with us to test them and do everything we could to keep them alive and get them better. (Which they are now!) Dr. B even called me to check up on how the puppies were doing, which meant so much to us. She really cares, and when she doesn't have the answer to something, she researches and gets back to you. THIS IS HUGE! It's great to have a vet that says "I don't know, let me find out" versus one that says "I don't know" and offers no solutions. She is so patient, knowledgable, and helpful. Like the other reviews say, they are a little on the expensive side, but she works with you and has NEVER pressured us to spend money we don't have. They have even worked with us on our bills, because 6 puppies is expensive! They are definitely worth it. These gorgeous pups are here today thanks to Dr. B

Dr. Burpee and her staff are by far some of the best veterinarian and caring people around. Their professionalism and thoroughness are what keep me coming. Dr. Burpee has resolved my dog’s skin issues and I have even trusted her to do an operation that I could’ve taken to the Animal Specialty Group. The results were better than expected and my dog is very healthy now. Each of the staff are VERY knowledgeable and take the time to explain what service or product is needed for my dog - I have sat in the waiting area and seen them talking to other clients too. Well, you get what you pay for and I want the best for my dog. Hands down, they know how to help maintain good health and bring your pet back to good health if something goes wrong. I love Burbank Veterinary Center!

Terrible vet. We’ve taken our dogs here a few times and the staff is rude and it’s way overpriced. They gauge you on services and make you sign off on services you reject giving you a guilty feeling. Instead of working with customers it feels like they work against you by being condescending. When visiting a vet you want to feel like your pets are being taken care of and also feel like your not being scammed. I didn’t get that feeling here. Will be taking our business where it’s valued and appreciated.

2.5 stars. I took my dog here for about 2 years. For regular vaccinations, prices are normal BUT the fee for an exam is much more than any other I have encountered in …

I had to go there as my vet was on vacation (the only place that could see my dog on a quick notice. Dr. Burpee is nice, place is clean...but, VERY expensive compared to my usual vet. My vet is seriously 1/2 the price and amazing!

My pets love it here and they don't get anxious so well worth it. Ultimately you get what you pay for.

By far the best Vet ever. Dr. Burpee is very intelligent, kind and in tune with our dogs. A bit more expensive but an immaculate place including the bathroom for the customers. She cathes problems before they start and is great with our Pitbull/ Mastiff who was shot many years ago and she know just what to do for his muscle loss in his back leg and guides us well with the injured leg. You won't be disappointed!

I love them. I trust them with my dog completely.

Dr Burpee is by far, the best Vet I ever encountered. I have aging cats.She diagnosed and treated difficult issues. ( a heart condition, congestive ) The heart is still going strong a year later.

Much more expensive than other reputable vets in the area.